Rust - Chapter 436



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RUST -436

Homeland Security Director Dan Brown’s dream was clear.

Rebuilding our great homeland, the United States of America (USA).

As simple and clear as the dream was, Director Dan Brown’s conviction was strong.

But now it was no longer a world that could be navigated through with belief or effort alone.

Of course he knew that, but the content of the meeting taking place right before his eyes was bitter.

“Desertation is serious.”

“Since we recruited and deployed 80,000 men at once, there could be desertions.”

“Is it simply desertion? What’s the situation now?”

“We applied for the Army, but didn’t the Navy and Air Force take us away and cause trouble?”

“That’s right. Isn’t that because they said they were drafted from the Navy and Air Force?”

Of the 80,000 new recruits selected for the war to subdue cannibals, over 2,000 deserted. The soldiers were already suffering from the bitter cold and catching rats, and those who were taken by the navy and air force were annihilated.

When the story started that the Navy and Air Force wanted to send additional troops on a large scale after annihilating the troops that had been dispatched, they couldn’t stand it and just kicked them out.

“Let’s just leave it. If we run away into this cold, we’ll freeze to death anyway.”

“Would it be okay if I went out and just quietly froze to death?”

“That’s the problem. Deserters are going into the underworld.”

“We have to kill them all. Criminals.”

During the first cannibal eradication operation, the New York deputy mayor was disposed of, and the criminal organization was largely cleaned up. The same thing happened during the second eradication operation. The organizations connected to the great families were destroyed in that way, but they kept regenerating like mold.

“The looting is more of a problem than the desertion. … Even 7th Avenue was looted.”

“The police department said there was nothing they could do.”

Anything that could happen was either desertion or looting.

However, if public authorities fail to hold those responsible for such crimes accountable, the stability and security of a multicultural, multi-ethnic city like New York will collapse in an instant.

Maybe it had already collapsed, but we were just ignoring it.

“In isolated areas, it is not even clear whether security is being maintained.”

The rat pups were cutting the line.

Rats are slowly encroaching from the outskirts.

Should we say that it’s fortunate that they don’t reproduce indiscriminately because they are intelligent? Or should we say no?

“The cold is a problem, but the bigger problem is the rats.”

It was really tiring to fight the monster rats that were picking on and destroying power lines, communication lines, gas pipes and water pipes.

“We can’t continue to use VX gas. It’s already reached its limit.”

“Who would have guessed that rats would use the vanguard?”

There was a strong argument that it should be eradicated even if it means using VX gas, and although the gas was used in some areas, it did not have the expected effect.

As Kim Yang had already written several times, it was a monster rat that responded to gas as quickly as a human. It operated a reconnaissance team, and when it seemed that the reconnaissance team had died from the gas, it abandoned the area and circled around.

“Based on recent confirmation, the number of baby rats is predicted to exceed 10 million.”

“80,000 men may seem like a lot, but it is not enough to catch a baby rat.”

“So what’s the point?”

“When the weather clears up, we should conscript.”

“I agree. We need to raise at least 200,000 more in New York City alone.”

The population of New York City, including refugees, had long since surpassed ten million. Even if only 5% had died from the cold and the monster rats, that would still be over ten million. So, if we were to look at it mathematically, it would have been possible to secure additional troops.

If we start recruiting in earnest, we will suffer, but if we are to survive the war with the rats and the monsters pushing down from the north, we need troops. And a lot of troops.

With the harsh cold caused by climate change, monster rats, and monsters starting to move south, it was not easy to survive, let alone take control of the eastern region.

‘The Confederacy is not the problem right now.’

Those Texas-centric slums weren’t the problem.

‘I knew the military would be a problem.’

Marines stationed outside New York City had no problems.

Because it was controlled by General Gilbert Brown, the cousin of Director Dan Brown.

The problem was the Navy and the Air Force.

The mighty Navy lost virtually all of its destroyers and cruisers as parts of the harbor froze over. To rats.

The great air force took advantage of the bitter cold to launch an operation to secure the airport and runway, but lost all of the troops they had deployed. To rats.

They were shamelessly demanding additional troops after having slaughtered a horde of rats that were neither human nor cannibal. The story of the deserters mentioned at the beginning of the meeting was also where the problem began.

They rushed in to find the lost ship, and to repair the airport and maintain the runway, and the battalion troops were pushed in. The result was the annihilation of the troops who entered.

‘We need more troops.’

‘There are 80,000 of them, so shouldn’t we provide at least a regiment-level force?’

The Navy and Air Force, which were already eating up battalion-level troops, continued to request additional troops. When Director Dan Brown refused, the Navy and Air Force began to clash.

It was in this situation that Vladimir Kalin appeared in the waters near New York with three destroyers.

Three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The three destroyers, in good condition, were a formidable force.

It was unlikely, but if Vladimir Kalin wanted to attack New York City, there was no way to stop him. But the idiots were out of their minds.

[Director Dan Brown. The destroyers are under the Navy’s jurisdiction. I would be grateful if you could hand over the destroyers that Vladimir Kalin is illegally occupying to the Navy.]

This was the position of the Navy, which had become completely crippled.

[···With Vladimara Kalin and a battalion of troops, we can clear out John F. Kennedy Airport. And with those troops led by Vladimara Kalin’s airship, we can retake Joint Base Andrews.]

This was the crazy Air Force’s position.

Hand over the illegally captured destroyer?

We’re about to start an important operation, so bring your airship and join us?

Will Vladimir Kalin listen to that?

It had been more than six months since the United States’ law enforcement powers became ineffective.

The military had long since split into several warlords. Large chunks went to the Eastern United States and the Confederacy, but even there factions were splitting.

In this situation, they were obviously aware of this and were ordering the destroyer to participate in the operation without any reason.

To shake up the power of the Department of Homeland Security even a little, and to reaffirm the presence of the weakened Navy and Air Force.

okay.

He was just talking nonsense as an extension of his fucking political activities.

Director Dan Brown held on. The United States he wanted to rebuild was a great country, not a rotting husk of military dictatorship or politics.

That’s why.

Director Dan Brown voluntarily decentralized powers, even though the Department of Homeland Security could exercise them exclusively.

The dead vice-director and the purged hardliners were simply rebelling against Director Den Brown’s judgment. There may have been other reasons for the rebellion, but that was the gist of it.

The conflict between those who want the Department of Homeland Security to be more aggressive and more involved in all matters and those who want it to be decentralized and distributed so that it does not become a monopoly.

During this gap, Virginia Langley dug in, and the New York City and state governments began to politicize it.

Even so, the great United States of America developed under checks and balances, so Director Dan Brown simply followed suit.

In hopes that things like checks and balances, give and take, and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes will be maintained.

It was because I had the belief that even if a great disaster were to strike, I could overcome it if I kept to the basics and followed the natural course of things.

And now.

Dan Brown’s face crumpled as he read the official documents from the New York State Legislature and the New York City Council. Just like the documents he was holding in his hand.

The conference room where the heated discussion had taken place became quiet.

======

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Maru, sitting on the bridge, looking out at the sea as the snowstorm subsided, felt secure.

There was no reason why a fleet consisting of three destroyers and one fuel supply ship wouldn’t be strong enough to accommodate an airship.

[What are you going to do?]

“what?”

“I’m following you on the DDG-38 Rabun ship that gave me such a hard time,” said Ms. Kim.

[This is a destroyer.]

“I wonder what to do.”

I was thinking of taking it to Detroit.

But it was virtually impossible to go up the meter-thick frozen St. Lawrence River.

The St. Lawrence River is already a sea route that uses icebreakers during the winter, so it would be difficult to guarantee that it would be possible to navigate in such severe cold even with an icebreaker.

The best thing to do is to tear down the docking facility in New York Harbor and put it there.

“Will it be difficult?”

[It’s difficult. The Navy can’t just sit by and watch with three destroyers and a fuel supply ship. And you never know what Canada will do.]

It was Hood’s cool answer.

It didn’t matter how Canada came out. Why bother if there were three destroyers and a blimp with a crow on it?

[The best option would be to hand it over to New York and take away only the Aegis system, missile cells, and defense systems.]

“It’s not a weight that can be carried on an airship, is it? And if you take that out of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, what’s left?”

Maru burst out laughing.

Since the snowstorm had stopped, Maru was doing everything he wanted to do.

Most of the equipment required a minimum number of crew members to operate, but since the automatic control system was quite reliable, there was no major problem in resolving my curiosity.

‘Looking at it this way, it seems that destroyers are the best at hunting down submarines.’

Not only did it have an anti-submarine helicopter, it also had good agility, good acceleration, and evasive maneuvers, so it had a fairly long cruising range and endurance.

It was truly amazing that a single Korean submarine destroyed an aircraft carrier group during a joint training exercise. Even if it was just a training exercise, didn’t it mean that they had broken through the defenses of an aircraft carrier group with Aegis destroyers?

“If I were to trade these for two destroyers and a nuclear submarine, would you trade them?”

Even if it was a 2:1 exchange, it wasn’t a waste. The LA-class submarine was a nuclear submarine, and the Virginia-class submarine was also a nuclear submarine.

[They will need Aegis destroyers, but I don’t think they will hand over nuclear submarines. Last I checked, there was some friction between the military and the Department of Homeland Security, so I don’t think it’s worth expecting.]

“Is that so?”

Ugh- Maru whetted his appetite.

“Anyway, we’re near New York, so I should talk to Director Dan Brown.”

[Is that okay? We swallowed the crashed airship too?]

“What can we do if we pick it up after it falls? We probably don’t even know we picked it up. Even if we do know, it’s still ours.”

[After trying it out. I think a submarine would be better. The ones operated in the US are nuclear submarines.]

“Let me just give it a try. Oh, right. Since we’ve come this far, let’s take that too.”

[···?]

[······.]

“You know, that thing. It’s what came out when you extracted it from Geese Raiser’s brain. It’s the emergency storage that Raiser Constraint kept hidden away.”

[Ah- Is that a cocoon?]

[I remembered. You said it was in the Northeast and Canada. But you didn’t bring that information?]

“Just send an airship and bring Dr. Nodungdung back quickly.”

By the end of March, temperatures rarely dropped below minus 40 or 50 degrees Celsius. At best, they were around minus 30 degrees Celsius, so the possibility of a blimp crashing due to the extreme cold was slim.

[Shall we leave now?]

“Okay, while we’re on the subject, why don’t you go and have a quick go?”

[What should we do with the prisoners?]

“How about psychometry?”

After unleashing his powers on the destroyer, he was in a bad state, perhaps due to the shock.

Since the prisoners were from a secret research lab, I was worried that they would be in an ugly state, so I tried to find out the information left on the destroyer first, but that was a mistake.

Gore and slasher scenes wouldn’t have been worth watching.

[It’s okay, but it looks unstable.]

“Tsk- Take Erica with you when you go and let her rest.”

As he sent the airship to Detroit, Maru contacted Director Dan Brown and immediately boasted of three destroyers and a fuel supply ship.

[···Are you talking about exchanging two destroyers for one LA-class or Virginia-class submarine?]

“Honestly, in a situation like this, wouldn’t we need more Aegis destroyers?”

The voice of Director Dan Brown, whom I spoke to after a long time, sounded unfamiliar.

It felt like something had become detached. To put it in a good way, that was true, but to put it in a bad way, it felt like someone had let go of something they had been desperately holding on to.

[I heard that you want a nuclear submarine, but you know that the Navy manages the nuclear submarine. Even if I wanted to give it to you, it would be difficult because of the Navy’s opposition. Oh, by the way, the Navy wants you to give it to Mr. Vladimir Kalin.]

“What do you mean?”

[They demanded the return of the illegally seized naval ship.]

“yes?”

[I asked them to tell them that the three destroyers and the oil supply ship belong to the Navy and that they should leave. They said that if they did not hand over the ships, they would respond militarily.]

At the mention of military response, Maru’s thoughts came out of his mouth as they were.

“Do you want to die that much?”

If it were like before, I would have told him no, calm down, and tried to gently move him in a good direction. But something different came out of Director Dan Brown’s mouth.

[···I will tell you the coordinates of the naval command center located here.]

Naval Command Coordinates? Why?

Maru’s spirit, which had been rising suddenly, suddenly cooled down.